Why right whale extinction is on the horizon

Surrounded by the stench of rotting flesh, and wielding knives more than a foot long, the team will slice through the whale’s slippery skin and blubber, carving long strips into the carcass. When the cutting is done, they’ll use an excavator to peel back each strip, revealing bones and decomposing organs underneath. Each step of the way, the scientists will search for sharp cuts and gashes on the skin, signs of internal bleeding, or fishing rope embedded so deep that bone has started to grow around it. The team will photograph and catalogue each one.

Chelsea Murray – The Coast – August 2019

Another Vancouver-Spawned Bitcoin Firm Accused of Owing Millions

“Last year, I made five withdrawals totalling almost $17,000 from ezBtc, an exchange platform for buying and selling cryptocurrency, then based in Vancouver. I hit delays every time. Once I did not see my money for more than a month. That was the proverbial last straw. I swore off the platform. I cast it out of my mind. I had little idea of the turmoil beneath the surface.”

Ethan Lou – The Tyee – July 2019

After a grisly murder-suicide, a small Ontario town looks back at missed signs of dangerous obsession

“For months, trouble had been brewing on Starratt Road: harassing letters, nasty confrontations, an allegation of sexual assault. Ms. Conway had long known about Mr. Jones’s dangerous obsession with Paul’s mother. But she’d never imagined it would come to this.”

Molly Hayes – The Globe and Mail – August 2019

The future of the public library is under attack

“Canadian public libraries are moving to a community-development model to give their most vulnerable patrons access to life-changing and life-saving services in what’s being called the third generation of public libraries. Across Canada, libraries are at the frontlines for the homeless; they are the sites for social work amid mental health crises and the opioid epidemic, while others are decolonizing their spaces for marginalized patrons as Canada moves towards reconciliation. This is the future of the public library — but the institution itself is under attack.”

Olivia Robinson – Rabble – August 2019

The Whistle-blower Who Got It Wrong

“Facing him were four investigators looking into several complaints levelled at ministry researchers. The investigators had come to believe that potentially personally identifiable data had been copied to a flash drive for MacIsaac’s use in his dissertation—a privacy breach he denied. If caught lying, MacIsaac was warned, he could be hauled up on criminal charges.”

Kerry Gold – The Walrus – August 2019

The battle for Haida Gwaii’s cedars

“On islands known for their monumental works of art, the monumental trees that make that art possible are getting harder and harder to find. Centuries old red and yellow cedar trees, the essential raw materials that make Haida poles, canoes, bentwood boxes, masks, intricately woven hats and so much more possible, are being logged at a steady clip. And once again on Haida Gwaii, there are renewed calls to slow that old-growth logging before it’s too late.”

Ben Parfitt – The Narwhal – August 2019

What Do We Do About SNC-Lavalin?

“When a company talks about the cost of doing business, it isn’t usually referring to more than $20,000 worth of stripper, escort, and security services for a foreign dictator’s kid. But, according to La Presse, that was just a fraction of the $2 million that SNC-Lavalin, the Quebec-based engineering firm, spent swanning Moammar Gadhafi’s son Saadi around Canada in 2008. And it’s one of a litany of dubious ethical decisions the company is said to have made in its efforts to win major contracts. SNC-Lavalin allegedly paid tens of millions of dollars to rig bids in places as far away as Bangladesh and even at home in Quebec.”

Max Fawcett – The Walrus – August 2019